happy holidays!

may peace, joy and love surround you always    love Petra and Megan

oops! it's been awhile

Where does the time fly?

 








I've been busy........... making Christmas wreaths like my dad used to do......making gifts for Sinterklauss and Christmas.....and then wrapping them in my extra special way!

And enjoying the cold sunny days taking in the eagles in Harrison!

The holiday season is wonderfully busy and I'm sure we're all running around a little more than usual.  I'm still a firm believer in "buy-nothing" and my family enjoys a really fun time opening all the gifts we made for each other.  That's where we find the joy of giving. Right now I've pillaged the forests and am coming up with this cool little gem of a Christmas tree ornament.

Stay tuned.  I appreciate you checking in!

Namaste

Gourmet dinner with friends

My friend Marla invited a few gals to dinner last night and seriously folks, I'm the lucky one to have this lovely friend!  Marla's place is a little eclectic with silk throws and tassels and all things interesting! Look at our appetizers!  Lovely bread and olives and this amazingly beautiful tomato/basil leaf/and cucumber on toothpicks bathed in balsamic vinegar. And wasabi humus freshly made. We all collected in the kitchen nook as Marla moved the dining table into the living area and isn't that just so perfect as the hub is always in the kitchen.

We chatted, drank wine and Marla cooked a sumptious meal!  It surprises me that we can eat all night when we gather at Marla's place.  Bravo for girls getting together and doing their lovely thing!  Heres to women everywhere just hanging out. It was a lovely evening!

Namaste

Pepsi dedication day

There are so many times when I think of my dear cat Pepsi.  I'm dedicating today as "Dear Pepsi" day!  

I LOVED my cat. She had the misfortune of having diabetes for the last 4 years of her life and twice daily I gave her insulin shots.  It wasn't so bad really and never expensive enough that I would consider an alternative.  She was really good to me.  She taught me unconditional love.  Anyone who has given love will always be remembered in love.

I have so many pictures of her around and I'm very thankful for them.  I remember so many fond times with Pepsi.  She had to go places with me and her constant "meows" during the car rides made me cringe and yet laugh.  She was persistant but I knew she was ok.

The moment I walked in the door, she was there at my feet.  As if she instinctively knew my footsteps up the stairs.  She would immediately drop down and roll over!  Exposing her tummy for me to rub.  I'd laugh, drop all my possessions and give her what she and I both so loved.  There was never an argument, or anything but devotion on both our parts.

I so loved my dear cat.

"Dear Pepsi" you have been missed.

Namaste

sailing in silly hats......

This afternoon I went sailing!

It was such a gorgeous day I did all my work this morning and my friend Andy said "let's go"   Ohhh it was great being out there.  I have missed it.

We live in a wonderful city here in Vancouver!  Wait till there's snow in the mountains............then it's really cool being out there.

Ahhhhhh this would be my life!

Namaste

what r you doing to reduce your carbon footprint?

I decided this morning to go through that pile of newspaper and books by my couch that I somehow never have the time to get to! Make the time I say to myself, and so I came across an article that concerned me.  Do you know since Canada took the oath in 2007 to follow the Kyoto Protocol (good on us) and internationally committed ourselves to reduce carbon emissions.....we're falling at a 90% rate in our accountability currently than we were in 2007! And yet our govt has managed to spend more than $9 billion in climate-change measures!  I think Al Gore is turning in his grave. (if he were dead - )

I'm not going to start ranting here, or get in a protest line with signs and petitions (Mother Theresa once said that the only "march" she would participate in was in one for peace....  I follow her) But I am going to step up on getting on my bike a little more.  That's why I live in the city - to use my car less.  Do you know my sister spent over 3 hours the other day in her car getting into the city?  If there's one accident on any of the bridge routes, traffic is a nightmare!  Right now our city mayors are voting on extending the translink system and yes it will cost us more. ....but good on them! I am willing to pay the extra even though I live in the city.

My readers are hopefully all about saving our world by example.  I can't tell you how many times I hear, " My recycling is not going to make a difference".  Man, I just want to get inside that pea brain of theirs and pull that pea out! 

We all make a difference and I for one can only make my own.  I'm extremely proud of my 25 year old daughter Megan who's carbon footprint in this world is like "0"! I believe most of her friends and our young generation is setting the right example.

At least we're getting that right.

Namaste

over-out

ok maybe donuts are better than coffee with your friends!

The rain has stopped for a bit! Time to get out for a wee break from the computer, call a friend and cycle around for some exercise! My friend Penny finally moved back to the city from Coquitlam (ya think!) and she lives one street over from me. What a blessing.

"Penny can ya come out for a wee cycle?"

"what time?"

"Now!"

"Give me 10 minutes...."

The cycling here is pretty great but when you add Bavarian Creme doughnuts and Cafe Ami to the mix.......well one just has it made! Normally I'd call it a pass on the doughnuts (in trying to keep my figure svelt!) but Penny's description of oozing chocolate and sugar coated melt-in-your-mouth glaze made me throw my hands up in the air in defeat!

Well worth the sacrifice.

"What time we cycling tomorrow Penny?"

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it's coffee time

Having coffee with your girlfriend is the best isn't it!  My friend Martes and I have been getting together most every week to catch up AND to work out starting a social media business together.......the days are really busy though with me still searching for a full time job and Martes working part-time and taking care of her lovely 2 year old Evelyn!

When I think about all the things a woman can do in a day.......I remind myself that "yes coffee with your girlfriends" is a must!

just say'in

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what's jibe designs?

www.jibedesigns.com

I was reading over my past blogs and showed you what my first design was for my website/portfolio for my school course.

Just thought I'd update it to what it looks like now.......wish I would work on it though........I have to be inspired and yet I get so busy!

updates to come soon.  Promise.

Namaste.

over-out

what's for brekky?

After spending 4 months out of my wee apartment, I'm back now and with nothing in the fridge but free range eggs (please don't support buying regular eggs - do you know how those chickens live? awful) tofu and some mushrooms - voila an omelet!  This is more than I can eat at one sitting but moving up and down stairs requires energy and stamina....this is going to give it to me!

Oh and tomatoes grown on the balcony from my friend Andy.  And a newspaper slid under the door from my landlord..........ahhhhhhhh  it's good to be back.............

over-out

what's that about a helmet?

It's social media week and I've been attending some of the great seminars they've been promoting.  The other day I went to the "blogging" summit and as it was a nice day, I roller bladed down to Robson Square from where I live in Kits. The summit was terrific and in a nutshell it suggested I blog about anything and everything! Feeling quite inspired, I put the blades on to head to the office and took a wee hill a little fast and it was rocky! This lovely lady cushioned my brake (meaning I roller bladed into her rather than into the traffic!) Well as "saviours" sometimes tend to do, I got some strong advise to WEAR A HELMET!  I've been fine till now - thank you very much.  But her advise stuck with me the whole day.

I wear a biking helmet (but I don't like it) Do you ever notice how the helmets are just on the top of your head? I mean when you fall sideways, what about the side of your head?  And so now I'm seeing full on helmets like the little kids wear on the ski hill!
Pretty soon we'll be in body armour.   I'm just say'in.

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when @ the beach.....

Petra & Ria

Sometimes one really has to take a break from the norm......and that's why my sister and I tried "clamming" out at Boundary Bay on the week-end!  We brought a pail and 2 wee shovels we scooped from the neighbour's and with our love of adventure, off we went!  Of course if you've ever been to Boundary Bay when the tides are out - it's a daunting expanse of clam space and we looked at each other and questioned "where do we start?"  Being the one who thought she had more of a handle on clams, I said "here" and with utter fascination and excitement it turns out ya can pretty much dig anywhere and clams live below the surface! What a grand time we had pulling out big clams (we placed the small ones back) and then we ran into a wee dilemma.  Ria and I don't like killing anything. What a conundrum. So we decided that we would only take home a few and see how it goes. We do enjoy clams.
We found a recipe online and then discovered we had to clean those babies really good.  Not having any white wine around (can you believe it) we steamed them in water, garlic, onions, rosemary and lemon.  Thankfully there were no "squealing" sounds coming from the pot! With sighs of relief we were excited to finally try our clams.

Note to self: wash and saltwater soak them a little longer........
makes for a less grittier ingestion!

Namaste'!
over-out

Holey Helen! It's hot in Florida!!!

Having finished a very intensive Multimedia Design course @ UBC, I had an opportunity to update my portfolio with family members in Florida who own this 75ft schooner "Grand Nellie" and run a non-profit business called "Sailvation". (teaching special kids to sail)! 

I spent some time in 34C constant heat on the boat charters to "feel" the vibes of Grand Nellie's fabulous Captain Ron and the crew! Well good golly miss molly, I learned I can't handle that heat!! Needless to say, I came home to "cool" Vancouver and haven't complained a bit since.  Love my dear family who put me up and I'll have to work from Vancouver from now on. 

Yes I know you are all thinking "wimp".

Me too.

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It's Finally Here!

GRADUATION DAY!

We're finally through our almost 4 month intensive Multimedia and Design course and if you've been following my posts, you'll know it hasn't always been pretty.  We present our final portfolio to our classmates today and even though I have some "web" bugs (which they really haven't taught us how to fix!) my site is up on jibedesigns.com.  But due to my bugs, if you're not up-to-date in firefox 4, my portfolio page will look like ka-ka. Who knows what the damage will be if you're on IE! I'll fix it next week.

After I get over my hangover from tonight!

love you guys.

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It's Canucks Mania in Vancouver

Even though the play-off games are really stressful, this city has gone crazy.

It's like the Olympics all over again and that was a pretty cool experience.

I, like many others, are not die-hard season's fan watchers...but last night for game 7, the streets all over were bare. All Vancouver was watching the game! And even though I admit, I went to purposely brush my teeth instead of watching the overtime (I'm a wuss to this kind of stress), the shouts and cheers of the entire city were probably heard in Chicago! We Vancouverites are extremely happy today, last night, and will be wearing our unwashed sweaters for a few more weeks!

Game on!

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sailing update

The inaugural 2011/12 America’s Cup World Series begins this summer with three regattas to be staged in Cascais, Portugal ( August 6 -14), Plymouth, England,(September 10-18) and in San Diego. (sometime in November-December). A further series is planned for 2012/13, before the Louis Vuitton Cup for all the Challengers in San Francisco in September 2013, followed by the 34th America’s Cup match itself. Racing begins in new AC45 catamarans, (those fabulous boats I talked about in a previous blog) which are then replaced by giant 72 foot wing sailed ‘monsters’, potentially  capable of over 40 knots speed, competing in a combination of both fleet and match racing. 

It's going to be really great!  Anyone interested in heading to any of the hosting countries? Maybe I can get a design contract there? It's time to start jumping aboard.

As for school - still going - working on an internship at the moment creating a client's website - haven't even completed mine yet.  Well, technically I have but I'm not totally happy with it and that's why my website "jibedesigns" is still under construction! I'm on it! I'm also currently working on a movie in Final Cut - interesting stuff.

I've decided to head down to Florida for the summer to do a little sailing (on the 75ft schooner pictured here), some crewing, maybe some racing on Grand Nellie docked in St. Petersburg, Florida. Also going to do some design work for a worthy cause: teaching sailing to kids for self esteem. check out their website: http://sailvation.org/

over-out

Made it through the weekend!

Not much time off for good behaviour, but when are week-ends relaxing when you're a University student! Can't believe I'm saying that at this state of my life but i'm lucky to be learning and experiencing the student lifestyle.
I think Saturday was the longest day of my life though.  I was in zombie land which I'm sure my classmate Lenny would approve. It was due or die for our photoshop assignment so with my cluttered mind I pulled together a "cluttered" photo.

Take a look if you have some time.

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Day Seven: I did it!

As I sit here, drinking green water in honor of St. Paty's day, I'm reflecting on the greeness of the day and how I almost missed it! First clue: the people getting on the bus with green hats and other parafanaellia. (is there a spellcheck function on this site?). Noticing my black attire, I quickly remied the situation by purchasing a green sticker.

Happy St. Paty's day everyone! May the irish be with you.

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Day Six: Rain, rain, go away........

Social Media classes are over and our project assignment has been moved to next week! God bless Tristan Jutras! Not only did he bring donuts, but he's our new big khahuna! 

I spend most of the afternoon doing a j-query for my website and %^#& it doesn't quite work. When I'm outta the course, I think I'm just going to design and let the techies figure out how to get it up. (am I allowed to say(do) that?)!
I made my typical stir-fry for dinner (still wish I had a chief cook and bottle-washer around here) besides me... and now I'm back to fixing whatever it was I did wrong with the j-query:O)
Wish me luck.
over-out

Day Five: I'm a little scared

The hardest part of designing my website is the start.  It's taken me like 4 hours and this is what I've come up with .....simple and it's got to be done by Friday!So much work to do.
over-out!

Day Three and Four: oops

Wind conditions were very light at about 5 to 8 knots when they tested this new cat. Nevertheless, the AC45 was soon flying a hull and making 

twice the windspeed!

Man what a ride.  

Can you imagine travelling faster 

than the wind?

(If the next America's Cup is hosted in San Fran, I'm there!) But while this testing was going on in San Francisco  Bay, I was finishing my CSS project AND my audio project.It will feel good to get a good nights sleep at a decent hour tonight.

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Day Two: My PVR is Getting Full!

The laundry is piling up, the dishes from Tuesday are still in the sink, I've run out of coffee and mascara, and i'm pretty much going to fall asleep in my chair tomorrow ..but I'm getting so much better at photoshop! If I wasn't pretty much getting close to my sound project being chucked out the window - I'd say I'm pretty dam fine.
Let's all hold hands.
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Day One: Kill Me Now

 

You decide! Loving Flash but it's going to take some time for me to get this right! Thanks to Social Media class, you all are going to hear about my life for a week! Step in line folks!  The party has just begun!

over-out

homework, homework, homework.......

CSS is driving me crazy!
 I was up @ 3:30am this morning after having went to bed @ 11:30pm with not too much sleep. Tossed and turned with CSS on my mind for our final project in this course. Finally got out of bed - headed to Timmy's (found a 24 hour one on Broadway) and went at it! Feel a bit better now that it's on it's way.  Not finished yet but this week for sure.
Would rather be sailing.........over-out